7 research outputs found

    Equitable perinatal healthcare for migrants, Portugal: comparative analysis of a self-assessment tool

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    Migration is seen as a common risk factor in obstetricmanagement. Migrants often have a higher risk of experience worse pregnancy outcomes, higher rates of operative delivery, and a higher likelihood to receive less adequate postpartum care when compared to native women. This study evaluates self-perceived assessment of migrant women and hospital directors on equitable migrant friendly perinatal healthcare quality and access during intrapartum and postpartum period at public maternity units across Portuguese mainland between 2017-2019. This cross-sectional study analyses perinatal health data from migrant women over 18 years giving birth in public maternity units from between April 2017 and March 2019 as part of the baMBINO project. Data on the assessments of maternity units’ directors on equitable migrant friendly healthcare was collected in a self-assessment tool. Two standards on healthcare access and on healthcare quality were developed by: 1) scoring 25 and 30 questions, respectively, from 0 (worst) to 5 (best); 2) calculating the average of each score. The OneSample Wilcoxon Test (non-parametric) was applied to compare the assessment of hospital directors with the migrant mothers and the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance to test for regional differences. Significant differences between migrant woman and healthcare directors’ assessments on migrant friendly healthcare access and quality of care were found. Directors rated healthcare access with a median score of 2.4, twice as good as migrant women (1.3). Migrant women rated healthcare quality with a median score of 4.0 (directors: 3.2). Significant differences between the regions for quality of care and healthcare access were found. Statistically significant difference between migrants from Portuguese and non-Portuguese speaking countries was identified for healthcare access (p-value <0.001) and healthcare quality (p-value < 0.05).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Equitable migrant-friendly perinatal healthcare access and quality in public maternity units in Portugal

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    Migrant women are at higher risk to face access barriers to perinatal care services and to experience worse pregnancy outcomes compared to native. Assessing the perception of migrant women and health providers discloses a multifaceted view on migrant-friendly care, a multidimensional concept in itself. This study aims to compare self-perceived assessments of migrant women and directors of obstetrics and gynaecology (GYN/OBS) departments on equitable migrant-friendly perinatal healthcare quality and access during the intrapartum and postpartum period at public maternities in Portugal. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, two indicators on Healthcare access and Quality of care were developed to compare how adult migrant women who gave birth between April 2017 and March 2019 and GYN/OBS department directors assessed offered care. The one-sample Wilcoxon test was used to compare directors' with migrants' assessments and the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance to test for country regional differences. A stratified analysis by sex, spoken language, and country of birth tested for potential effect modifiers. Results: Migrants rated Healthcare access significantly better (P<0.05), but perceived Quality of care worse (P<0.01) than GYN/OBS department directors. Migrants' and directors' perceptions differed significantly according to directors' gender (P<0.05). Migrants' and directors' assessments on Healthcare access (P<0.05) and Quality (P<0.01) changed significantly across regions. Conclusions: Migrants' and directors' self-perceived appraisal of Healthcare access and Quality of care significantly varied. Identifying these discordances allows to deliver insights into existing barriers in access and provision of care and raises awareness to improve quality assurance, essential to inform practice and policies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Tobacco use during pregnancy among native and migrant women in Portugal. Results from the bambino study

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    Tobacco use is a major modifiable risk factor of adverse maternal and fetal health outcomes. Being a migrant has been associated with lower risk of smoking during pregnancy. However, it remains a matter of debate whether such association could be explained by other socio-demographic characteristics or whether such effect remains or increases according to the length of stay in the host country. This study examined the differences in maternal smoking prevalence between native, long-term and recent migrant women in Portugal. METHODS: This study was derived from baMBINO, a national project grounded on 32 public maternity units in mainland Portugal aiming to investigate the differences in perinatal healthcare and outcomes among migrant and native women. Recruitment took place during admission for delivery, inviting both native and foreign-born women. Participants included in this analysis (n=1107) were classified according to their country of birth and length of stay in Portugal into: native (Portuguese-born), recent migrant (foreign-born women who spent 10 years or less in Portugal), and long-term migrants (foreign-born women who spent more than 10 years in Portugal). Logistic regression model was fitted to estimate the association between the aforementioned migration statuses and having or not smoked tobacco during pregnancy, taking into account women’s age, parity, marital status, level of education, family income, country of origin of women’s parents and gestational age at the first prenatal care visit. Adjusted odds-ratio (OR) and respective 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were obtained. RESULTS: A little over half of the study participants were foreign-born and almost 60% of those were recent migrants. Tobacco smoking during pregnancy was evidently more prevalent among native women than among long-term or recent migrant women (14% vs. 8% and 4% respectively; p<0.001). Compared to native women, both long-term and recent migrant women were more likely to be unmarried, have a family income lower than 1000€, and have their first prenatal visit after 12 weeks of gestation. Long-term migrants were more likely to have Portuguese-born parents than recent migrants (26.0% vs. 2.5%; p<0.001). According to the multivariate regression model, having a higher educational level was significantly associated with not smoking during pregnancy (secondary school: OR=0.38; 95%CI:0.23–0.62; postgraduate education: OR=0.18; 95%CI:0.09–0.35), opposed to women who have 9 or less years of education. However no association was observed between smoking during pregnancy and maternal age (OR=1.10; 95%CI:0.60–2.01 and OR=0.95; 95%CI:0.57–1.58 for women aged less than 25 and 35 or more years, respectively, in comparison with women aged 25-34 years), family income (OR=1.30; 95%CI:0.77–2.18 for women with higher income), parity (OR=0.68; 95%CI:0.43–1.09 for multiparous in comparison with primiparous women), gestational age at first prenatal visit (OR=1.12, 95%CI:0.59–2.11 for women having their first prenatal visit after 12 weeks), having a foreign-born parent (yes vs no: OR=0.83; 95%CI:0.43–1.63) and marital status (single vs married women: OR=0.76; 95%CI:0.46–1.24). Smoking during pregnancy was significantly less frequent in recent and long-term migrants (OR=0.24; 95%CI:0.10-0.57, OR=0.52, 95%CI: 0.25-1.09 respectively) compared with native Portuguese women. CONCLUSION: Results of this study demonstrated significant disparities in the prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy according to the women’s place of birth and duration of stay in Portugal. Native-born women had a higher risk of smoking during pregnancy than foreign-born women. The increase in the duration of stay in the host country seemed to have a negative effect on maternal smoking of migrants in Portugal. Smoking cessation health strategies in pregnant women in Portugal need to be improved by taking into account the mentioned variations in smoking behaviors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Migrants and perinatal health: access to health services

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    Inequities in access to health care between migrant and native women have been reported, but determinants of such inequities remain a matter of controversy. According to the national law, health care is provided to all residents with the same conditions of Portuguese citizens, in a universal, tax-financed National Health Service. This study intended to review the available evidence on the access of migrant women to perinatal health services in Portugal, in order to assess if there are differences between migrant and native population. MĂ©todos: A systematic search of relevant literature was conducted on Web of Science and reference lists for articles published up to March 2017. We considered all studies providing information on access to health care services by migrant women in Portugal. Resultados: After excluding irrelevant citations for the question under research (n = 6) and abstracts with no results of interest (n = 3), 10 studies were included in this systematic review. There were six quantitative studies, describing determinants and patterns of healthcare utilization by immigrants in Lisbon (n = 3), assessing prenatal and obstetric care among migrants in Porto (n = 1), describing prenatal vigilance in Portugal (n = 1) and reporting the health professionals’ perspective (n = 1). Migrants were more likely than native women to have the first pregnancy appointment after 12 weeks and to have less than 3 prenatal visits. Although not exclusively related to perinatal care, waiting times and provider’s attitudes were the main barriers identified by migrants, observed differently depending on their country of origin. However, a more recent study showed that only 1% of migrant participants reported having been discriminated by health professionals. Positive attitudes towards migrant people were more likely to be shown by doctors and nurses than clerical staff, by younger than older doctors and by workers who have less daily contact with migrants. Four qualitative studies analysed the access, satisfaction and perceived quality of received health care during pregnancy. All stated that initial unfamiliarity with the National Health Service by the users and misinformation of clerks about national law and administrative procedures, particularly when dealing with undocumented users, were important obstacles to access to health care. Conclusiones/Recomendaciones: Available data on the access of migrant women to perinatal health care services in Portugal is scarce and more quantitative studies are needed, in order to adjust existing responses and improve the quality of healthcare provided to migrants.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Tobacco use during pregnancy among native and migrant women in Portugal: results from bambino study

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    Tobacco use is a major modifiable risk factor of adverse maternal and fetal health outcomes. Being a migrant has been associated with lower risk of smoking during pregnancy. However, it remains a matter of debate whether such association could be explained by other socio-demographic characteristics or whether such effect remains or increases according to the length of stay in the host country. This study examined the differences in maternal smoking prevalence between native, long-term and recent migrant women in Portugal. METHODS: This study was derived from baMBINO, a national project grounded on 32 public maternity units in mainland Portugal aiming to investigate the differences in perinatal healthcare and outcomes among migrant and native women. Recruitment took place during admission for delivery, inviting both native and foreign-born women. Participants included in this analysis (n=1107) were classified according to their country of birth and length of stay in Portugal into: native (Portuguese-born), recent migrant (foreign-born women who spent 10 years or less in Portugal), and long-term migrants (foreign-born women who spent more than 10 years in Portugal). Logistic regression model was fitted to estimate the association between the aforementioned migration statuses and having or not smoked tobacco during pregnancy, taking into account women’s age, parity, marital status, level of education, family income, country of origin of women’s parents and gestational age at the first prenatal care visit. Adjusted odds-ratio (OR) and respective 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were obtained. RESULTS: A little over half of the study participants were foreign-born and almost 60% of those were recent migrants. Tobacco smoking during pregnancy was evidently more prevalent among native women than among long-term or recent migrant women (14% vs. 8% and 4% respectively; p<0.001). Compared to native women, both long-term and recent migrant women were more likely to be unmarried, have a family income lower than 1000€, and have their first prenatal visit after 12 weeks of gestation. Long-term migrants were more likely to have Portuguese-born parents than recent migrants (26.0% vs. 2.5%; p<0.001). According to the multivariate regression model, having a higher educational level was significantly associated with not smoking during pregnancy (secondary school: OR=0.38; 95%CI:0.23–0.62; postgraduate education: OR=0.18; 95%CI:0.09–0.35), opposed to women who have 9 or less years of education. However no association was observed between smoking during pregnancy and maternal age (OR=1.10; 95%CI:0.60–2.01 and OR=0.95; 95%CI:0.57–1.58 for women aged less than 25 and 35 or more years, respectively, in comparison with women aged 25-34 years), family income (OR=1.30; 95%CI:0.77–2.18 for women with higher income), parity (OR=0.68; 95%CI:0.43–1.09 for multiparous in comparison with primiparous women), gestational age at first prenatal visit (OR=1.12, 95%CI:0.59–2.11 for women having their first prenatal visit after 12 weeks), having a foreign-born parent (yes vs no: OR=0.83; 95%CI:0.43–1.63) and marital status (single vs married women: OR=0.76; 95%CI:0.46–1.24). Smoking during pregnancy was significantly less frequent in recent and long-term migrants (OR=0.24; 95%CI:0.10-0.57, OR=0.52, 95%CI: 0.25-1.09 respectively) compared with native Portuguese women. CONCLUSION: Results of this study demonstrated significant disparities in the prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy according to the women’s place of birth and duration of stay in Portugal. Native-born women had a higher risk of smoking during pregnancy than foreign-born women. The increase in the duration of stay in the host country seemed to have a negative effect on maternal smoking of migrants in Portugal. Smoking cessation health strategies in pregnant women in Portugal need to be improved by taking into account the mentioned variations in smoking behaviors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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